Today we woke up and had a yummy breakfast at the hotel which was followed by a little trip in the car to see some neighboring hill towns. Even though it was almost a two hour drive, the always changing scenery keeps us attentive entertained... Not to mention the crazy Italian drivers.
Our first stop was in Castellina in Chianti which was a very charming little town. Even though I'm not religious I really love visiting the churches. I'm always drawn in by the comforting smell of candles and the cool air. The churches in the smaller towns are especially nice because you can tour them on your own and there's rarely a lot of people inside worshiping in the middle of the day. I lit a candle there before we left. We also found some great shops (I got in trouble for taking the pictures of the jewelry) and tried the best gelato we've had all trip. My favorites were mascarpone and figs, straight fig (which tasted like biting into the fruit and was made with the figs from the owner's back yard) and pecorino with pear.
After Castellina we packed back into the car and headed for Siena. Although Siena was a tad bit more on the touristy side, it was an absolutely incredible place. It was very hilly and very ancient feeling. We had planned on climbing to the top of the tower but upon looking at the EXTREMELY SMALL entrance, we decided that if it was going to take anti-anxiety drugs to get us up there it probably wasn't a good choice.
We were going to go to a winery on the way home but I was feeling rather tired so instead I went to the pool and mom and dad went to the post office and had a bite to eat. We took naps after and woke up in time to get ready and catch the shuttle to dinner at Le Vigne... Which was incredible. I had a simple (yet delicious) salad with tuna, mozzarella, tomato, and capers. Then we all shared a beautiful, heavenly, simple truffle gnocchi, and to after Mom and dad had meats, cheeses, baked veggies with cheese, boar stew, and steak. And for dessert, we all had Cantucci e vin santo - my new favorite.
After dinner, we had a final glass of wine at bar Dante before heading back to the room. Not bad for a Wednesday.
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